Daughters Can Be Rad Just Like Their Dad: Asda’s Think Not

The definition of RAD generally is awesome, so when I saw a range of clothes at Asda’s the other day, I instantly thought, yes my one twin girl, R, would love these. However, my heart instantly sank, and you may ask why?

While some retailers in the high street have now done away with girls and boys clothing departments namely John Lewis, many supermarkets still refuse to accept that gender dividing clothes is quite honestly unacceptable to most parents.

The truth is not all girls are princesses and love the colour pink, and not all boys love the colour blue and are rough and boisterous. However they still refuse to cross over the clothes or shoes to both genders, instead they make a point of dividing the departments without shame, trying to influence girls one way and boys the other.

This also makes parents uncomfortable because they have to do as I do and go to the boys shoe department because one of my twin girls simply doesn’t like sparkles etc. She is also starting to realise that her shoes and some of her clothes are being picked from the boys department. This could ultimately have a detrimental effect as she grows up. My big question is why bother with separate boys and girls department? What is achieved by it? Just put it altogether as a children’s department.

While walking through the ‘boys and girls’ department, I came across this absolutely amazing range of clothes with the use of the word ‘Rad’, but there was no doubt they were totally aimed at boys with the colour and design etc. They had boys clothes stamped all over them. Why did they not come in a selection of colours? My twin girl M loves pink and those sort of colours so why not make them in that colour too? She simply doesn’t wear grey or black, and just because it’s in pink does that not make her Rad like her dad? I have been known to wear pink on occasion!

RAD is of course a word that was originated in America, so it’s no surprise to me that Asda are starting to sell children’s clothing with reference to the word RAD, because Asda is owned by the massive American retailer Walmart.

The main reason we went to Asda was to get our five year old twins new shoes and trainers. R took one look at the girls section of shoes and instantly said I don’t like any of them, so we went off to the boys section for shoes. R instantly saw a pair of Star Wars trainers and loved them. This is the bit I struggle with.

Why oh why weren’t these shoes in the girls section as well? The new Star Wars film is the Last Jedi which the girls have seen. The film has a very strong female lead in it namely Rey. She is an independent and determined woman and easily an equal to any men, actually possibly better than a lot of men. So if Star Wars can can show a woman as a positive, strong female. Of course, where men can achieve women can as well. So why are supermarkets still driving the belief that Star Wars is only for boys, because it’s not, girls love it too!

Gender stereotyping is unfortunately not changing in some areas of our lives and this is not helped by marketing policies of large corporations, who seemed determined to split the children’s departments into boys and girls. Let’s do away with this labelling of our children, and just let them be children and wear what they like, and also play with any toys they want.

We need to raise our daughters to be strong girls to develop into strong women, where absolutely anything is achievable, and society removing all restrictions and boundaries to the females of the world, so our daughters can become leaders and follow their dreams without risk of being held back.

34 thoughts on “Daughters Can Be Rad Just Like Their Dad: Asda’s Think Not”

I’m totally with you on this one. My son doesn’t ask to wear so called girls clothes however. If we ever go to toys r us he instantly like to dress up in the princess isle. Am I bothered by this. Nope not at all.

He has started nursery and comes home and says he has been playing dolls with one of his female friends.

Does this bother me no. So why can he opposite sex play with so called opposite sex toys yet they “can’t” go to a shop and look at a selection of mixed clothes in our day in age???

They should just throw all the clothing together. Even for people who have girls who want pink, it is easier on families who have children of opposite gender to shop for at the same time. All the people who complain can still pick out the princesses for their princesses if that’s how they feel. But no little girl or boy should have to ever feel shamed by shopping in the opposite gender’s section. #ThatFridayLinky

I absolutely agree on this – clothing and shoes are way too stereotyped. Asda arebterrible for it, in fact all supermarkets seen to still have boy and girl sections.
Having four girls I often like something on an item aimed at boys and think that it would be great on a girls item – mine are all girly so never really attracted to the typical boybatyles or colours. Is that from years of gender stereotyping?
Even football clubs now offer their replica shirts in a female cut – recognising their body shape is different to a boy/man’s which is a big step for a male dominated sport.

I feel like there is change in the air. Ive noticed there is certainly a lot more awareness and lobbying for change when it comes to the stereotypical clothing designs/ colours for kids (not sure if this is just here in Australia). Certainly still a long way to go but still moving in a positive direction. #thatfridaylinky

I think it can be a little bit more complicated. I know people don’t want to stereotype girls and boys, which of course I’m all in agreement with. But at the same time, you do have a Men’s range and a Woman’s range in shops, so why not have Girls and Boys? But for me I wouldn’t be bothered going into the boys range and buying something for Isabelle. And as for all the sexist, stereotyped clothing, we live in a capitalist country where the market dictates the sales. If people buy a “Special Princess” top then they’ll keep making it. It’s all about sales for most places at the end of the day. But it’s probably a more complex issue and one I could look into a lot deeper. This post has gotten me thinking though.

I agree. Eva loves her girly clothes but Izzy is like me. She likes to look girly/nice at times but give her a pair of ‘boys’ joggers (pockets are better for collecting stones!) and a batman hoody and she is ecstatic! I often shop in the mens department too, especially or hoodies as I tend to find the fit better. #thatfridaylinky

To be honest I hadn’t thought too much about this> We have a girl and a boy and would just naturally buy in the two sections. Maybe if he had pinks and sparklies were mixed in with “his” stuff he might mix and match, but I’m not sure. We have been more concerned, with our daughter, to avoid the early sexualised skimpy tops and stuff like that, Now, aged 14, she does that naturally, while still being up to all the fashions for her age. She never would have bought those “Rad” things or Star Wars, even thigh we would not have given an opinion on it. She is just not drawn to what might loosely be termed boys clothes

Totally agree – supermarkets seem to be the worst with this and although I’d usually say something like voting with your feet and simply not shop there, it is obvious people are buying this stuff so more awareness is needed. I tried to buy a Pokemon tshirt for my daughter once – had to buy from the ‘boys’ section :-/ #thatfridaylinky

I’m mixed about this because I loved dressing my boy and girl differently. But, I also wished that there was some middle ground. Why couldn’t there be a girls star wars shoe – it seems crazy. Not all girls are ‘girly’ and it’s nuts that they are not catered for. Come to that not all boys are ‘butch’ and there should be items to cater for their taste too. So, maybe not typical boy and girl stuff lumped together but a more broad range… #thatfridaylinky x

It’s funny but before xmas i had the opposite shopping for a 10yr old boy. All the cool Star Wars and Harry Potter clothes were in the girls dep’t and they splattered glitter or unicorn pattern on so much of it meaning there’s no way he’d wear if even if I bought it. Why can’t we just have more neutral stuff that anyone can wear regardless of sex or interest?

This whole gender stereotyping is getting a bit silly now and it seems brands are trying to gain publicity by bring out there and going gender neutral. If I saw something in boys I’d buy it for my girls in fact I’m sure I bought Ella some converse type trainers from the boys section of H&M a few years ago because she wanted red ones and girls section just had naff girlie ones. #thatfridaylinky

I mostly agree with you Nige, however i’d say the colours black and white as you highlighted above are not ‘boys’ colours. Girls should feel just as comfortable wearing them.

Having three boys it annoys me for similar reason but from the opposite side of ther aisle as it were. The girls section on supermarket is 3-4 times bigger than the boys which is usually one or maybe 2 aisles with a pedestrain boring choice while the ‘girls’ get more choice. However that’s only fine of you have girls that like pink and usually sparkly too (and isn’t it pushing them down the ‘girls wear pink’ attitude if that’s all they are offered)? What about girls who don’t like pink (or do but fancy something else) or boys that would like a choice of something other than two checked shirts and and a random marvel t-shirt?

Supermarkets would say that they are led by what consumers want but they constantly have sales of racks and racks of pink clothing which suggests it doesn’t sell as well as they think. Likewise, they may only have a tiny ‘boys’ dept because it doesn’t sell but if it’s just one shitty aisle hidden away at the back then that’s self reinforcing. You won’t get sales.

How about we have less pink domination and more other stuff that allows both boys and girls to express themselves.

I wouldn’t say most parents have an issue with this, I think some do, most it doesn’t matter as you only have to walk a few feet. Realistically I think you are labelling these as a boys and girls department. The photo you have added shows products that are on the end of an aisle and what looks like it is in between a boys and girls section which suggests at least an attempt by the supermarket to not label these clothes.

You can’t separate the clothes as a lot of clothes are sorted by type i.e jeans, long sleeve tops etc. Now you could put “girls and boys” long sleeved tops together but then all clothes are merchandised by a theme generally in shops. Plus clothes that are made for females, including children are made to fit differently as male and females body types are different.

It doesn’t bother me if I had to go to a “boys section” if my daughter wanted something because in most stores now they don’t overtly label their departments as Boys or Girls, that is something that we label. Most clothes are put together by type/colour so if we label those as girls or boys then surely that is up to us to change our mindset and how we describe it.

I think you have a thought provoking post but in my opinion, having an issue with where clothes are placed in a shop is a problem for you, your girls wouldn’t be bothered about this. If my son wanted a dress I would go get him one from where the dresses where. It wouldn’t matter whereabouts it was placed in the clothes section.

While I still believe there should be separate departments due to the way clothes fit girls and boys differently, I think manufacturers should be making gender neutral lines or both “boys” and “girls” lines of the same content, as you elude to in your Star Wars example. Good thoughts.
#thatfridaylinky
Katelynn, hampersandhiccups.com

I have the opposite problem, trying hard to get my eldest to wear more gender neutral colours but when we ask her what her favourite colour to wear is “PINK” is the reply. Sigh. Totally agree though, there are some cool boys clothes that she’d love to wear. #thatfridaylinky

It does seem very old-fashioned, doesn’t it? We’ve been out shopping in the past and the little man sees something he likes the look of (not necessarily clothes) but he’s said ‘but Mummy, that’s for girls!’. I’ve jumped in straight away and told him he doesn’t need to think like that. I hope that one day they do mix it all up a bit. #thatfridaylinky

I think some of the comments have missed the point tbh. I totally agree with you Nige. This is not about gender at all but about choice. Little boys and girls do not have gender specific body types….some are chunky, some are skinny but all are children. My almost 18 year old daughter used to have massive tantrums in shops as she just didn’t want pink and sparkly (remember this is 12 odd years ago when this wasn’t talked about!) and I felt her frustration. Why couldn’t she have the Spider-Man top? Why was it in the boys section? Girls from about 5, do notice that these things are in the ‘boys’ section and I remember having to start buying clothes online so she wasn’t worried about wearing boys clothes. She liked green and why not? I found the campaign “pink stink’s which was not berating pink clothes but began the conversation about choice. Great post and rock on to both of your daughters for knowing their own minds and hooray to their parents for giving it to them. #thatfridaylinky

Yup drives me mad that the girls section is still massively pink and sparkly and the boys section is virtually non-existent. Nobody is served well by this. Make more gender neutral stuff with a range of options for everybody, then everyone can pick what they want.

Good Post! I’ve put purple and pink on my boys before only to have them exclaim, that’s a girl’s color. It’s sad that at 4 yrs old, they think this way. It doesn’t come from our household. I’m not a girly mom, no pink for me, and take my boys with me to my hip hop class…… When I was younger, my mom, against my wishes, painted my room pink. I threw a fit until she painted it yellow!!! Beth, http://www.wisemommies.com

I think this is a real bug bear for many. I think there should be boys and girls clothing section as sizes and builds do differ with boys and girls, but I think the ranges should overlap and all of these clothes, particularly character clothing or slogans, should be available for both sexes. My girls are very girly, so they are all about dresses and pink, but as you point out, many girls are not! #thatfridaylinky

This is something that doesn’t bother me. I have 2 boys and one girl so I would look in both sections anyway. I could see myself buying something from that Rad range – one for my daughter and one for my youngest son and I can’t see Melody saying Mummy don’t buy me that it’s in the boys’ section. She is very girly but we buy the odd gender neutral item too. I picked up 2 jackets on holiday, one each for the 2 youngest (one of my sons and my daughter) and I hadn’t noticed if it was from the boys area or girls, they were blue embroidered satin jackets. I still don’t know if they were boys or girls. When we shop in John Lewis , the baby clothes are gender neutral but the older kids’ clothes, although they don’t say ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ like they used to, it was still obvious which was the ‘girls’ section and which was the ‘boys’ which suited me as I was looking for a party dress for Melody.

Really thought provoking. It is not until you pointed it out that I have thought about it. I always look in the girl’s section and marvel at the choice, I don’t tend to notice what is on that choice. Great post #ThatFridayLinky

I’m with you on this, Ben went through a massive Peppa pig phase but they only did George merchandise for boys and Peppa for girls, and now he loves Paw Patrol but the character Sky is only in the girls section and not the boys. Its sad that all characters cant be on clothing for both boys AND girls! #thatfridaylinky

It is so tricky. My daughter loves pink and girly stuff but is also happy playing with her brothers’ things and wearing Matt’s old clothes. The boys are much less keen on ‘girl’ toys, well Zach doesn’t really care! #thatfridaylinky

I’m absolutely with you on this . Why can’t we just have children’s clothes and that way they and us can just choose an outfit. All this does currently is reinforce the idea that girls are pink and sparkly and boys like diggers . It’s nonsense #thatfridaylinky

Could not agree more! It needs to stop girls and boys can be what ever they want to be and if that means that the boys want to play with dolls and become nursery nurses Good on them and like wise girls playing with trains and cars becoming engineers. Why not make all children’s departments whether its for shoes, clothing toys etc children’s departments and get rid of the stereotypical labelling.

I internally clapped at your last paragraph. I totally agree with you. In hindsight, I felt quite restricted by gender boundaries growing up. There were many experiences I missed out on because I was a girl. I’m passionate about bringing Autumn up in such a way that she doesn’t feel restricted, but it’s difficult when it’s still being done by others. She loves playing with her pink toy cat, but she also loves playing with her tool set too. This isn’t the 19th century anymore, there are overlaps in roles. For example, I do all the DIY in our house and my husband does most of the cooking because I generally find it boring! #ThatFridayLinky